School holidays club in Northampton rated ‘Outstanding’ in all areas

Matthew Langlands

A school holidays play scheme in Northampton has been awarded ‘Outstanding’ in all areas.

Happy Hols, which works out of Wooton Primary School, improved from its previous ‘Good’ report back in October 2009.

Wendy Bell, who runs the club, said, “Our first inspection had to be within 6 months of setting up, and as we were not open over the Christmas period, when they came in February we had only been open 8 days.

“There was no way we would have been able to achieve ‘Outstanding’ in that time, but we were assured by OFSTED that we were striving to achieve it, and we’ve maintained our standards since then”.

The recent success has been down to maintaining the club’s high standards, Wendy says, rather than improving them and staff believe they cannot afford to sit back after reaching the highest rating.

She said: “Qualifications in playwork mean we allow children to play on their own initiative, using their own imagination. They have free reign in a creative environment with lots of different tools.

“Children don’t need an electronic device to entertain themselves. A child uses their imagination to play by themselves and others, either through arts and crafts or even putting on a show with costumes from the fancy dress box. We don’t ever have a child saying they’re bored.”